The widow of a Russian dissident assassinated by radiation poison in London today criticised Foreign Secretary David Miliband for planning a visit to Moscow.

Marina Litvinenko - whose husband Alexander's poisoning in November 2006 sparked a major diplomatic row between the UK and Russia - said she was 'deeply dismayed' at reports David Miliband would travel to the Russian capital next month.

'That his visit will take place exactly on the third anniversary of my husband's poisoning is adding insult to injury,' she added.

Alexander Litvinenko (left) in hospital suffering with radiation poisoning and (right) as he was before being exposed to deadly Polonium

Former spy Mr Litvinenko died on November 23, 2006 - three weeks after being poisoned with a massive dose of polonium-210.

The incident led to a major public health scare in the capital, as well as one of the biggest diplomatic rows of recent years.

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After a lengthy investigation, British police tried unsuccessfully to extradite the chief suspect, former KGB operative Andrei Lugovoy.

Last week Moscow news agency Interfax quoted a Russian foreign ministry spokesman in a report saying Mr Miliband was expected to make his first trip as Foreign Secretary on November 2.

Marina Litvinenko (left) is angry at plans by Foreign Secretary David Miliband (right) to visit Moscow on the anniversary of her husband Alexander's death

Mrs Litvinenko said in a statement: 'I am deeply dismayed by the reports that Foreign Secretary David Miliband is planning to visit Moscow.

'For three years I trusted the Government when they said that they were doing everything possible to get some justice for my husband and our family. I even accepted as a political necessity their reluctance to name the Russian state as the party behind the crime.'

She added: 'But one thing is to observe the constraints of diplomacy, and another is to seek to normalise relations as if nothing happened.

'The fact remains that a British citizen was murdered in the centre of London in a state-sponsored act of nuclear terrorism. In the face of this truth, the apparent softening of Mr Miliband's position is a great disappointment to me.'

One of Mr Miliband's first actions in his post was to expel four Russian diplomats after the Kremlin refused to extradite Mr Lugovoy.

The Foreign Office has previously declined to confirm any specific Miliband trip is taking place.

But it did say that UK officials were 'in close touch' with the Russian government and 'have always made it clear that the Foreign Secretary expects to visit Moscow at the appropriate time'.

UK-Russian relations were tested again last year during the conflict between Russia and Georgia over the latter country's breakaway region of South Ossetia.